Improvement in grain-separators



.N. H'. SHERBURNE,

' G rain- Separator. No. 40,505. Patented Nov. .3, 1863.

1L PETERS, Pholn'L'niwgnvhl Wuhinglo t D- C.

tlNirEn STATES PATENT EEroE.

NORMAN H. SHERBURNE, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

[M PRQVEMENT IN GRAIN-SEPARATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 10,505, dated November 3,1863; antedated October 24, 1863. v

' To all whom it may concern:

separator. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the same. Fig. 3 represents the shape of the springs and plan of uniting the shoe or riddle frame thereto.

Similar letters of referencefwhere they ocour in the separate figures, denote like parts of the separator in both of the drawings.

My invention consists, first, in the shape of the springs and the manner of hanging the shoe or riddle frame to them for allowing it its shake motion; second, in the device for holding and adjusting the riddles in the shoe or riddle frame; and, third, in the long shakin g screen over or near the bot-tom board, furnished with finer and coarser meshes, in combination with a slide in said bottom board for regulating the final separation and delivery of the cleaned grain.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A represents the frame of the separator, and B the fan-case. which may be of any of the known forms of construction.

G is a crank for operating the machine. On the shaft of this crank there is a gear-wheel, D, which takes into and turns a pinion, a, on the shaft b of the fan E, by which motion is communicated to the fan. From a crank or crank-wheel, c, on the outer end of the fanshaft, extends a connecting-rod, d, that hooks onto an arm, e, on the vertical rock-shaft f, for giving a rocking motion to said shaft, and from another arm, 9, on said rock-shaft a connecting-rod extends, and is attached to the shoe or riddle frame F to give it a shaking motion laterally. A third rod, h, extends from the arm 0 to and is connected with an arm, t, on a shaft, j, that extends through or across the machine, and to an arm, 'i, on this shaft t'is connected by a rod, 70, the long shaking riddle G, placed immediately over the bottom board, H, of the separator. These contrivances give the necessary motion to all the moving parts of the machine under such certain restrictions or limitations as will be hereinafter explained.

The shoe or riddle frame F is suspended to the main frame by four springs, 112, (more or less,) two on each side of the frame. These springs at their upper ends are connected to the outside of the main frame. Their lower ends are bent around and upward, as shown in Fig. 3, and pass through slots in the sides of the main frame, and their bent-up ends connected to the riddle-frame F, which is on the inside of or within the sides of the main frame. The objects of this form of spring and plan of uniting the shoe or riddle frame thereto are several: First, the springs do not break, as they are liable to do when straight and fastened at both ends; secondly, their expansion,

if unequal, does not tend, as in straight springs, to make the shoe hang unevenly; and. thirdly, by hanging the springs on the outside of the frame and connecting their lower ends to'the shoe through slots in the sides of the frame, through which slots the springs vibrate, I can use a wider shoe and wider riddles with a given width of main frame than by any of the heretofore known arrangements of shoe and main frame with closed sides. 7

On the sides of the shoe near where the riddles first receive the grain to be cleaned, there are ribs 7%, with rests or supports thereon for holding the inner ends of the riddles l 2 3 4, of which there may be any suitable number, and graduated as to the sizes of the meshes therein, and at the other end of the shoe there is abow or U-shaped piece of metal, 0, extending across from side to side of the shoe, with its legs 0 sliding in grooves or guides on or in said sides, and having upon it also shelves or supports 0 for holding the outer ends of the riddles l 2 3 4. This bow-shaped piece 0, supporting the outer ends of the riddles, can be raised or lowered with the riddles resting upon it, and held at any suitably adjusted height by means of pawls 5, that take into ratchet-teeth 6 thereon, and that these ends of the riddles may be thus raised up or lowered in the bow or piece 0 without crampformed to admit of the movement.

ing, the shelves or supports are cut away or The object in changing the inclination of the riddles is to change the speed with whichthe material passes or is to pass over them.

The material to be cleaned and separated is fed into the hopper I, and finds its way over the directing-board J onto the riddles, where the first separation takes place, the refuse passing oft over the ends of the riddle, and while this separation is taking place by the shake motion of the riddles, mainly, itis aided by the blast from the fan-blower E. The grain that passes through the riddles drops through the blast from the fanblower onto the long riddle G, where there is a second and ,final separation. This riddle G has a compound motion. Its upper .end is shaken laterally by being united to or lying upon the shoe F, while its lower end has a vertical motion by means of the shaftj, arm 17, and connectin g-rod 7:. What grain passes through the upper portion of the riddle G'runs along the bottom board, H, and may drop out at r and fallinto the drawer K underneath it; or, it this opening r be closed and the slides be withdrawn, then the delivery would be into the same drawer underneath s. The lower portion of the long riddle is furnished with a coarser mesh than the upper portion, the finer mesh terminating at or near the opening a", while the coarser mesh terminates at or near the slides, which when removed forms the lower opening.

The blast is subject to regulation by the slides L, that cover or partially cover the airinlets to the fan-case, and the direction of the blast is given by a directing-board, M, which also keeps the blast from the lower end of the screen G, where the cleaned grain is taken ,out of the machine, while the other, or

that separatedfrom the grain,mavy pass out at t. In much of the western-grown wheat, and particularly in spring-wheat, there are more or less oats, and the separators used should be such as to not only clean the grain from its impurities, but also separate the oats from the wheat, so as to save the oats. In my machine the oats run off over the ends of the sieves 1 2 3 4, mainly.

I have said that the cleaned grain is taken off at r or at s. It may be taken off there, or it may all run oft at t, depending upon the condition of the grain. If it is ready or cleaned at 1' or'at s, it need not all run out at it. When 0* and s are closed, which they may be, then the delivery is at 1.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim is- 1. Suspendingthe shoe or riddle frame on bent springs, for the purpose and substantiall y in the manner set forth.

2. In combination with a shoe vibrated within the sides of the frame, the connecting of the upper ends of the springs to the outside of the frame, and uniting their lower ends to the shoe through slots in the sides of the main frame, substantially as described.

3. The bar 0, with its supports and holdingmecha-nism, for the purpose of raising the nest or series of riddles or lowering them in abody, for the purpose and in the manner substantially as set forth.

4. The long riddle G, arranged and operating with regard to the delivery-points r 's t, and having a shake motion communicated to it, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described. 7

N. H. SHERBURNE. Witnesses:

A. B. SroUerI'roN, XAVER FENDRIOH. 

